The Grande Prairie Storm are taking some positives out of the AJHL season despite missing the playoffs.
Head Coach Mike Vandekamp says after a tough start to the season, they played much better in the second half of the season.
“We were 17-10-3 in the last half of the season, I think we had 17 of our last 20 points in the season. We ended up being the team that didn’t get to participate in the playoffs but had the most points in the history of the league to be in that position. We still ended with not as good of a record as we wanted but a much more respectable one than it looked like we were going to have.”
The Storm missed the playoffs after finishing in last place in the North Division with a record of 22-30-8 for 52 points, three points out of the last playoff spot in the North.
Vandekamp spoke with the Trending 55 Newsroom and says they’ll be going into next season with a strong group of returning players.
“We got a really good balance when it comes to being able to fit all the necessary roster rules and stuff with the ages of our players so we can bring back a pretty strong nucleus. We have some good recruits and some more scouting and recruiting still to do over the next couple of months. I think we still need to add a little more speed and skill to our team.”
We talked with Vandekamp about the Storm’s offseason priorities, you can hear that full discussion below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
